


Titantalia

by Severeance



Category: Hetalia - Fandom
Genre: Countries Using Human Names, Crossover, I'm Sorry, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sad Ending, Some Fluff (But it's the thought that counts right?)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-10-19 07:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10635597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severeance/pseuds/Severeance
Summary: Feliciano Vargas has always been very passionate about getting rid of Titans. Of course he has secrets of his own that are better kept in the dark where they can stay dormant, but somehow fate is adamant on bringing them into the sun. Especially with the appearance of a certain sunny haired blond.You don't need to have watched Attack on Titan to be able to read this. There will be concept spoilers from season one.Will update every Thurday.





	1. Chapter 1

Nimble hands sketched the images of things long forgotten onto the paper. The people could no longer remember what many things were like. The concept of oceans—masses of water so large that they stumped even the largest landmass was a concept more widely regarded as myth than fact. Aeroplanes that had once conquered the sky were nothing more than children’s stories. So many things had been lost to time.

Yet, he still drew. As long as they existed in his mind Feliciano would still draw them. He had sketchbooks filled with once mundane everyday items; cars, electrical lights, computers, massive buildings that were so tall that the eye had trouble seeing the entire thing at once. Images upon images of everyday scenes that no longer occurred, and portraits of people he once knew and loved that were no longer alive. They had been lost to time, or to Them.

Them being the Titans—massive organisms that were vaguely human shaped and had a penchant for eating one thing: humans. Many of these creatures were grotesque with bulging eyes and contorted limbs and muscles. They ranged from just under a story tall to well over five stories.

Feliciano began to shiver lightly as the sun neared the end of its daily journey. Winter was always awful in Germany and he could always feel it in the tips of his fingers and toes. He much preferred the more mild Italian Winters. Of course, that was his circumstance. He could do nothing to change it. Nor could he blame anyone other than himself.

At the time that Titans first began to run amuck he had been in Germany visiting one of his closest friends at the time, Ludwig Beilschmidt. Right now he had assumed Ludwig to have been dead for decades. During the first few months of pandemonium he had lost track of the German man and had never seen him again. For years he had hoped he was still alive but as time went past his hope began to dwindle. There was no way someone could live for such a long period of time.

He stood up and stretched before walking idly back to his town. It was one of the smaller towns due to the fact that it was so close to the outermost wall, but it had been steadily growing as the threat of the Titans became less and less terrifying and people who actually remembered the sight of them died.

Since the Titans had attacked the people that had resided in Germany had managed to build three concentric walls that were at least twenty stories tall in order to protect themselves from the Titans. It had worked quite well so far.

His house was modest and had barely enough space for him, never mind all of the stray cats he couldn’t help but adopt on a regular basis. Many of the people he saw greeted him as enthusiastically as he did to them, but none of them ever really stopped to actually talk to him.

At some point he must have gained the title of ‘Town Hermit’. Not because he was rude or anything, but rather because he rarely spent time socialising with others and would often disappear from town for months or even years at a time. To be truthful it wasn’t even his fault, it was part of his job. Feliciano only spent time in his hometown during his vacation time, sometimes. He enjoyed touring other towns that existed as well.

He actually quite enjoyed being a part of the Survey Corps. No one ever stayed long enough for him to get to know properly, but then again, anything less than a decade is short when you’ve been alive for over two thousand years. 

The Survey Corps were a team of people that had gotten intensive training in order to be equipped enough to venture outside the walls where Titans roamed free.

The rank he had held for the last few decades was not very high, he wasn't even a Captain. It didn’t really matter to him since he felt that he wasn’t suited for leading any teams despite his vast amount of experience. During his less experienced times he could only describe himself as a bit of a wuss.

It was only once he’d realised that things weren’t going to get any better unless he contributed that he’d finally come around and managed to get his arse into gear. Training was vigorous and he would often push himself past his limits, but it was worth it.

Every Titan he culled from the insurmountable herd was another strike added to his personal redemtion tally.

Feliciano suddenly came to the realisation that he had just walked past his house. He hurriedly turned around and walked back to the door. His house was one of the few houses that had a front garden. For the rest of them the gardens were nixed in favour of space.

He quite liked his garden. It had various plants growing in it and when he was at home he would tend it daily and would often talk quietly with the plants. For some reason he could never quite talk to the tomato plants in his garden. It was possibly because they reminded him so much of his brother, Lovino. When he wasn’t around he would pay one of the townspeople to come and water his garden on a regular basis.

A dull lamp illuminated his clustered house that was filled with various trinkets that had been collected over time. A coal powered stove sat proudly in the kitchen surrounded by various recipe books that had been hand written by Feliciano before he could forget the recipes.

He was lucky he was able to purchase the various ingredients needed in order to make fresh pasta with the generous monthly pay checks he was given. Even though modern life as he knew it was over he still enjoyed having pasta every now and then and would even bribe the kitchens to let him make it himself when he wasn’t at home.

The rest of the evening was spent sketching before he retired to bed. At this point he had been on vacation for nearly a month and was itching to get back into a more action-filled lifestyle. If he didn’t receive a message requesting his presence before the end of the month he would travel back up to headquarters and demand something to do. It wasn’t a rare occurrence from him.  
________________________________________  
It was a jubilantly welcomed occurrence when during the following afternoon a messenger came on horseback. Feliciano paused his gardening when he heard the sound of a horses hooves on the cobbled ground.

“Hello,” He greeted enthusiastically, “Is there a message for me from headquarters?” He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand.

“Uh, yes sir.” The recruit was somewhat taken aback at the personality of what he had been told was one of the most seasoned soldiers in the military. He looked to be the same age as most of the recruits, maybe slightly older at a push. He held the letter out for Feliciano to take.

“Grazie,” Feliciano said as he got up off his knees and dusted them off before taking the letter. He saw the man’s confused expression at what he had just said, “I said ‘thank-you’. It’s Italian.”

The recruit nodded in affirmation he watched as the happy man’s eyes grew melancholic,  
“Are you going to read the letter now, sir?” He asked.

“Of course,” Feliciano opened up the letter and skimmed over it. The letter was very basic and just requested his assistance with the training of some of the new recruits. Feliciano sighed internally. So much knowledge had been lost over time. He hadn’t known anyone who could speak Italian since the Titans had attacked. It was also a product of his positioning. Many people were fluent in both English and German and both languages had many borrowed words from the other at this point. It made Feliciano vary grateful that he had learned German ages before the Titans had attacked.

“Do you mind if I go inside and just quickly pack some things so I join you on the trip back?” Feliciano asked. He removed his gloves and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind the company.” The recruit said. He watched as Feliciano bounded into the house and left the door open. He dismounted his horse and cautiously walked up the path and towards the door.

He knew he was letting curiosity get the better of him, but Feliciano Vargas seemed to be a complete mystery. He jumped as he heard Feliciano talk.

“You’re not supposed to come into people’s houses uninvited~” Feliciano goaded teasingly, “But while you’re here do you mind helping me get some stuff while I get changed. Here’s a list. Just put what you do find onto the kitchen table.” He handed the list to the recruit.

The recruit looked at the list. It was labelled ‘Necessary Things to Pack’ in flamboyant cursive and looked to be well used. The house seemed to be in an absolute mess. It wasn’t dirty and looked to be cleaned often; it just had a lot of clutter and various oddities he couldn’t find a name for.

He had managed to gather some of the food supplies from the kitchen when Feliciano returned wearing a blue uniform and carrying a large rucksack that seemed to be partially full. He dumped it unceremoniously onto the kitchen table.

“Thanks for helping me, it’s saved some time.” Feliciano walked briskly around the house and picked up most of the items lying around as he made his way throughout the house he placed a large portion of the items back into their respective places while keeping others until he passed the kitchen again where they were added to the pile.

“Why do you have the list of the things you need to pack?” the recruit asked Feliciano.

“I have a bit of a habit of packing things I don’t need while forgetting things I do need. A very close friend of mine once said that I should write down only the things I need.” He seemed to defy gravity as he balanced on the arm of one of the couches in order to place some sketchbooks onto a bookshelf.

It was overwhelming to the recruit who had never seen such a whirlwind of action before. A mostly white cat rubbed up against his leg and meowed.

“That’s Gato. That’s cat in Italian.” Feliciano said as he finally entered the kitchen. He showed no signs of fatigue after cleaning the house in such a short period of time. The recruit looked around and couldn’t see a single thing that was out of place other than the collection of stuff on the kitchen table that was being stuffed into the rucksack.

“Nearly done just give me a few more moments…” Feliciano said as he closed the rucksack completely, “Would you like to have something to drink and some leftover pasta before we go? If we don’t eat them now I’m going to have to throw it away and it’s not good to waste things.”

“Alright,” the recruit acquiesced.

Feliciano quickly dished up some spaghetti and poured some juice for the both of them. He gave the plate to the recruit, “I’m sorry it’s not heated up, but spaghetti tastes mostly fine when it’s cold. Dig in!”

After a few moments Feliciano stood up, “I nearly forgot to pack something,” he said as he ran to what would be assumed to be the bedroom. A few moments he came back with an Iron Cross in his hand.

“It’s an award the German Military used to give out before the Titans attacked,” He explained as he hung it around his neck, “It used to belong to a very close friend of mine and he gave it to me.”

“Is it the same friend who gave you the idea about the lists?”

“Yes. May I ask your name?”

“My name’s Kurt.” The recruit replied.

“Nice to meet you Kurt, I’m Feliciano Vargas, but you’ve already heard of me, haven’t you.”

Kurt nodded, “To be honest you’re a lot different than what I’ve been told. You’re younger for one, and a lot more cheerful.” He feared that he had insulted Feliciano.

Feliciano laughed, “A lot of people say that, but I don’t take it as an insult. Have you been in training for long?”

“Not too long I’m hoping to get into the Survey Corps.”

“It’s very dangerous and there’s a high chance of you dying. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone retire from the Survey Corps in years,” Feliciano said seriously.

“I know, but I don’t have any family and any bit of help is important.”

“I like the way you think.” Feliciano beamed, “I’ll quickly clean the plates. Do you mind closing the windows?” Feliciano whisked the plates away and carried them precariously on his arms to the sink where he gave them a quick wash and placed them onto the drying rack. He could always give them a quick rinse when he came back.

Kurt and Feliciano finished closing the windows and made sure no cats were in the house before locking everything up. Feliciano excused himself in order to ask someone to water his gardens for him while he was gone.

“We still have about three more hours of sunlight before it gets dark. Then we can either choose to continue or stay at an Inn that’s about a four hour ride from here,” Feliciano stated as he mounted his horse and placed the rucksack onto his back.

“We can ride through the night, we should be mostly safe,” Kurt patted his gear.

“The route doesn’t have bandits either.” Feliciano added. They began the three day long journey towards the inner walls. Feliciano was quite excited to see the new recruits. They were always fun to train with and share his knowledge with. Maybe he could even get a mission outside the walls afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

The journey to Headquarters was mostly uneventful. It mostly consisted of riding on horseback and Feliciano sharing stories of what it was like outside the wall and of times before the wall. He didn’t disclose the fact that he had actually been alive before the walls were built and let Kurt think they were nothing more than stories passed down from his family.

“How much longer on this route,” Kurt asked Feliciano. They had been riding for most of the day and had only stopped in order to let their horses take a break to drink water and have something to eat.

“We’re nearly there; we should be there before nightfall.”

They rode in silence for a few moments. “What’s it like to kill a Titan?” Kurt asked curiously.

Feliciano thought for a few moments, “It’s one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever had. It still terrifies me.”

“Even now, after being in the Survey Corps for so long?”

“Of course, some people don’t feel as scared as I do, but I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat.” Feliciano admitted unembarrassedly.

“I doubt you get scared. Everyone says you’re the best the Survey Corps has had in years.” Kurt said disbelievingly.

“As long as you don’t let it affect your thinking, fear is a very good thing to have,” Feliciano said. He laughed, “I’ve peed my pants so much while out in the field some of my older teammates have taken to packing extra pairs of pants for me.” He admitted with a laugh.

“But only people who are scared out their wits do that.”

“And I’m a scaredy-cat. I once sent a message to Ludwig; he’s that very close friend I told you about, because I couldn’t tie my shoelaces. I still can’t” He admitted this embarrassedly.

Kurt’s eyes moved down to Feliciano’s shoes which were knotted elaborately in anything but a proper bow. 

“But as I was saying,” Feliciano continued, “People need to feel fear. It’s the driving source of society. When we were scared of the dark we built fires, when we were scared of things that were going to eat us we built shelters.”

Feliciano giggled, “That was way too serious, especially coming from me, I guess that’s what happens when you’re forced to take things seriously.”

They continued to ride in semi-comfortable silence until they reached the city. Once they had entered they could feel numerous eyes on them as they made their way at a much slower pace to Headquarters due to the fact that the streets were extremely crowded on a Saturday morning.

When they finally reached headquarters Feliciano nimbly dismounted his horse and walked her to the stables as Kurt followed suit. 

“Thanks for keeping me company. It’s a long ride and it feels even longer when you’re doing it alone.” Feliciano smiled.

“You’re welcome. It felt a lot shorter on the way back than on the way there.” Kurt admitted.

“Ciao~,” Feliciano said as he walked away, “That’s goodbye in Italian. I’m going to talk to Commander Edelstein.”  
________________________________________  
“So you’re the new recruits that have just come out of training?” Feliciano asked excitedly. Murmurs were heard in the group of seven. Feliciano continued, “I know I don’t seem like I know what I’m doing, but I do. Right now I’m going to go over some things and hopefully we can all learn somethings while we have fun!”

Commander Edelstein stood in the background and partially listened. The groups Feliciano worked with always had a strong bond and were extremely good when it came to teamwork, this years’ recruits should be no different.

A tall blonde man raised his hand and Feliciano noticed. He gasped just slightly but tried not to let it show too much, “What’s your name?” Feliciano asked.

“Ludwig.” The blonde answered simply. He had no surname to give. Feliciano knew that, it was definitely his Ludwig. Ludwig opened his mouth to continue, “Why are we having fun if we are meant to be training in order to hone our skills?”

Feliciano laughed, “If you have fun you’re more likely to remember things. My brain often zones out when things get boring and I’m sure a lot of people have the same issue.”

Ludwig stayed silent for a few moments before nodding.

“Alright so first I think we should practice with our 3D manoeuvring gear.” Feliciano said as he started to lead the group to get their gear before he led them to where he planned to train. 

“Now we all know what it is as we’ve all been training for with it for quite some time?” He asked rhetorically had a patted the rectangle shaped boxes on either side of himself. 3D manoeuvring gear or Omni-directional gear paired grappling hooks and a gas expulsion system in order to propel the user around the area. It was useful in areas than had large trees or building, but their uses dwindled once the use user was on open ground.

“You’ve all been told over and over again that you must be very careful of how much gas you use. It’s possible to do a lot of things while still being wary of how much gas you have left. A trick I’ve learned is to really use your weight and momentum to your advantage.”

Feliciano demonstrated by grappling onto a tree and using just enough gas to get him airborne before he started to move from tree to tree. He used absolutely no gas in order to propel himself and rather used his own weight to swing and gain momentum from that.

He had obviously been doing this for years as he barely seemed to swing before he would grapple onto the next branch and pull himself forward. It was as if he was flying.

This was one of Feliciano’s favourite parts of owning 3D manoeuvring gear. When he was using it he felt as if he was flying. He would often forget he even had the gas tanks until the last moments of his flight, when he needed them in order to desperately boost himself in order to gain some momentum.

After a few moments he decided that it would be best if he came back to the group he was supposed to be training before he let himself go and continued to play around. With a quick somersault he changed directions and came to a stop in front of the group.

Feliciano dangled upside down about the group, his copper hair falling with the flow of gravity, “I only used enough gas to get me off of the ground. I want you guys to practice using gas even more sparingly than you’ve been doing. It’s alight if you use it, but the less you use the more you have for times when you do need it.”

He retracted the hooks and let himself drop onto the ground and into a roll before he stood up, “I used my weight in order to swing myself. I tried to use more exaggerated movements near the end, but as you can see it is perfectly possible to work without gas once you have momentum.

“I’m going to make a bit of an obstacle course for you guys that should help you to practice this. It is a race, but not a race against each other; it’s a race against time. This is important to learn as you can use this skill when you are completely out of gas as well.” 

He bounced on the balls of his feet, “Hopefully once I’ve finished training with you I’ll be able to take you on an expedition outside of the wall where I can show you some more stuff on how to take down a Titan. Maybe I’ll even see one or two of you on my squad once this is over.”

After a few more minutes of introductions Feliciano explained to them the course. It had a few turns and was mostly agility training while trying to be less generous on gas expenditure. 

“I’ll even do the course with you guys. It’ll be quite fun.” He smiled as they got into their starting positions.  
“On my mark, get set, Go!” Feliciano said and watched for a few moments as the group of seven took off. The students were moving a lot slower than they normally would as they had to calculate their steps a lot more carefully. He then took off himself. It wasn’t long before he overtook the entire group, but he still stayed in the vicinity and reminded them of what the next obstacle was going to be.

Everyone except Feliciano collapsed on the ground, panting, “That was fun, wasn’t it? It will get a lot easier the more you practice so I recommend taking some of your free time to practice this sort of thing.”  
________________________________________  
“So how was your first day everyone?” Feliciano asked brightly as everyone was eating their dinner. He’d bribed the kitchens to allow him to make pasta for the recruits in order to reward them for working so hard throughout the day.

Most of the recruits were either half-asleep or wolfing down their bowls of pasta. Feliciano’s was long gone, his talent for breathing in pasta had come in handy and allowed him to talk to his recruits a bit more before they retired to bed.

“Ludwig, do you mind speaking with me after dinner?” Feliciano asked quietly. Some of the other recruits heard and he could hear someone saying something about how he was already favouring Ludwig because he had been at the top of their class.

“I will come as soon as we’ve been dismissed.” Ludwig said solemnly. He didn’t really know what to think of Feliciano Vargas’ teaching styles but everyone had learned a lot of information and it all seemed to make sense so for now Ludwig would listen to their teacher without making a fuss.

Once they were dismissed everyone stood up and put their plates into the designated spot so that they could be cleaned later. Many of the recruits were complaining about having eaten too much of Feliciano’s pasta. This had to have been one of the most delicious things they had eaten in a good while.

________________________________________  
“What did you want to talk to me about, Mr. Vargas?” Ludwig asked once they were alone.

Feliciano paused for a few moments, “Do I by any chance seem familiar to you? Oh, and call me Feliciano please, I’m not Mr. Vargas anymore.” Mr. Vargas was from his younger years before the Titans had attacked.

Ludwig stared at Feliciano for a few moments, “No, you don’t seem familiar to me.” He shook his head.

“Alright, I just wanted to ask you that. It seems I must have the wrong person then,” He laughed lightly, “Come on, I’ll walk with you back to the barracks.”

The two men began their short journey to the barracks. Feliciano grew tired of the silence, “So what made you decide you want to be in the Survey Corps?” He asked.

“I feel as if it’s the right thing to do. I don’t have anyone close to me that I can recall and it’s the best way that I can pay back what others have given to me.”

“Why do you need to pay back others?” Feliciano asked.

“I don’t have any parents and was raised as an orphan.” Ludwig admitted.

“I didn’t know my parents either. I had a grandpa, but he died while I was still extremely young.” Feliciano said.

He didn’t really understand it himself but he had been alive for a couple thousand years at this point. More than a hundred years ago he had known others like him, who had been alive for hundreds of years. It seemed as if they had each come from a different country. Eventually they had started to hold meetings as by that time most of the people like him had started to gain major pull in the political world, but it was if some of the people were hiding things from the others. Luckily Feliciano knew what.

That was where Feliciano had first met Ludwig. Ludwig was the kind of person that would take absolutely no nonsense and was often the unofficial leader in their pandemonium filled meetings. Somehow he and Ludwig had eventually become friends, but once the Titans had attacked he lost track of him and now had come to terms with his death, to a point.

If this man here was Ludwig then Feliciano would be overjoyed, but if he wasn’t and the likeness was only a coincidence it would only because Feliciano pain and inner turmoil for as long as he had to work with him.

Once they had finally reached the barracks Feliciano worked on getting everyone to quiet down.

“We’re going to be doing even more training tomorrow. Some of it will be on training your agility as well as working on different tactics on how to take down a Titan, as a team. Teamwork is essential for surviving. I want you all to get a good night’s sleep so you can do your best tomorrow.” And with that he turned the lamp of and got into his own bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day had come by far too quickly for the group. They had been roused at six in the morning by an already fully awake Feliciano who kept on telling them about what they had planned after breakfast.

 

Once the entire group had left the barracks in order to eat breakfast Feliciano busied himself with setting up for the day’s lesson. He was going to try and impart the importance of teamwork upon the seven individuals that he was working with.

 

Without teamwork there was no use of going out in teams when people went on expeditions. Teamwork was what saved you when you were in a life situation and what saved others. Feliciano smiled to himself as he remembered the trio he used to be in.

 

While he was also friends with Ludwig, they both had a mutual friend called Kiku Honda. He was a small man that really enjoyed all sorts of media and was a very friendly person even though he seemed cold at times.

 

The new recruits filed back onto the field where they were going to do their exercise. Kurt was not part of the group. While he was one of the new recruits he still had a year of training before he would have the training with Feliciano.

 

“We’re going to be working on teamwork today everyone.” Feliciano repeated the words he had said the night before, “If you don’t know how to work well with others how can you expect them to work well with you? If you’re stuck in a bad situation you should be able to rely on your own teammates.

 

“Today’s task is simple. I want you to carry me form this point over her, to that point over there. The issue is that I don’t have my 3D manoeuvring gear with me today.” He smirked at the group who looked at him in disbelief.

 

“Don’t worry I trust all of you guys not to drop me~” He teased. Of course you’re also going to have to be careful with your own gas expenditure. We’ve been out in the field for a while and we don’t have much gas left.” He stated the imaginary circumstance. He needed to teach the group to work in situations where supplies were low.

 

He explained to the group what they were meant to do. They were going to have to swing him from point to point while using their gear to their advantage. Every single time he had done this task with the group before this one he had been dropped. He expected this group to be no different.

 

“Alright let’s begin.” He said as he dropped from a high point from a tree. The first part was timed correctly. Hannah caught him with not trouble. Again, he was glad he weighed nearly nothing.

 

He then swung himself into the air again and his wrists get grabbed by Presley who swung him higher up into the air, he did a quick somersault before landing onto the ready waiting wire that had been laid out by Dmitri.

 

Feliciano balanced on it for a few moments before taking graceful and well-practised steps. He caught sight of Ludwig making his way towards him. With a catlike jump he leaped off the wire and into Ludwig’s arms. It felt weird to be in the almost-familiar embrace of Ludwig, but Feliciano couldn’t let that hinder the entire group’s progress.

 

He nodded to Ludwig who slowed himself down enough for Feliciano to let himself fall onto one of the tree branches. He was waiting for Hans to come around and swing him towards Christine. One he caught sight of Hans he reached out his arm and felt himself being jerked because of Hans’ grip.

 

He continued to soar but for some reason Hans didn’t let go at the correct time and held on for longer than was necessary. Once Hans let go Feliciano could feel that he was spinning helplessly towards a tree and without any of his gear.

 

He attempted to top his spin before he hit his tree in order to some form of damage control but it was too late. He was lucky he had hit the tree with his legs and not his head and before he knew it he felt himself succumbing to the throes of gravity.

 

Feliciano landed on the ground and attempted to roll, but before anything could happen he heard a definite ‘crack’ he lay on the ground for a few moments before rolling into a sitting position. It wasn’t actually that painful and he had gotten much worse while out in the field.

 

Christine, Hans and Marty were already making their way to him as they were the closest and had seen what had just happened to Feliciano the best.

 

Hans, the one who had let go a fraction too late kept up a litany of ‘I’m sorry’ as he went over to Feliciano.

 

“Don’t worry,” Feliciano said optimistically, “Every time I do this exercise with the new recruits something like this happens.”

 

“Then why do you do it?” He heard Christine ask.

 

“It’s for teambuilding you should get better at this by the end of the time that I’ve been working with you lot. Also, I quite enjoy it. It’s really nice to feel like I’m flying.” He admitted embarrassedly.

 

“Are you an adrenaline junkie?” He heard Ludwig ask seriously as he landed neatly beside the gathering group.

 

“Of course not, I just enjoy being able to not have to rely on contraptions and other things to do stuff.”

 

“You shouldn’t put your life at risk for the sake of fun,” Ludwig scolded. Feliciano was getting surer and surer that this was his Ludwig every time he spoke to the man.

 

“I do this every year.” Feliciano tried to fight back.

 

“And you said that every year you get injured.” Without warning Ludwig picked Feliciano up into his arms and started to carry him to the medical section.

 

“Hey! What are you doing? Training isn’t over!” Feliciano tried to struggle in Ludwig’s strong grip but it was futile.

 

“You are injured. You have no place to be teaching a class with an injury like that. Your ankle is at an unnatural angle.”

 

“I can still walk, I’ve had a lot worse.”

 

“You shouldn’t be afraid to feel pain,” Ludwig said softly to Feliciano.

 

Feliciano stopped fighting back, “I know. Would you believe me if I told you a couple years ago I cried when I would scrape my knee?” Feliciano joked.

 

“But weren’t you still a child then?” Ludwig asked.

 

“I’m older than I look. I was at least twenty at the time that happened. I’m just glad that I don’t feel pain too much anymore.” Feliciano said without thinking.

 

“What do you mean you don’t feel pain anymore?” Ludwig asked. Why was Feliciano Vargas such a conundrum? The question was asked by his mind again. He couldn’t deny the palpable attraction between him and the Italian man either.

 

How had he known that Feliciano was Italian? He didn’t even know what the word meant but it was still there to describe the man. With that came thought s of pasta, he couldn’t understand his mind sometimes. He shook his head slightly. Even if he were attracted to Feliciano he doubted the man would like him back.

 

On countless occasions over the two days he had known the group leader he had seen him flirting with girls, a lot. It seemed as Feliciano had no interests other than girls, pasta, and training. He was nearing the Medical Bay at this point and a blush graced his cheeks as he realised that many of the other non-Survey Corps recruits were going to see him carrying Feliciano bridal style to the Medical Bay.

 

“I asked you a question.” Ludwig said as he realised that Feliciano hadn’t answered his question about why Feliciano didn’t feel pain.

 

“Oh, well I had been in an accident a couple of years ago and all I remember is excruciating pain and since then I haven’t really been able to feel proper pain,” Feliciano was lying through his teeth and he hated it, “Well I do still have touch. So my ankle feels a bit like it’s been wrapped tightly in bandages and it is throbbing…” He trailed off hoping that his explanation about the accident wouldn’t warrant any further questions.

 

“I’m sorry; it must have been n awful accident if you say that it was excruciatingly painful.” Ludwig shared his consolations with the much smaller man.

 

“It was, but I’m all better now!” Feliciano said happily.

 

“You still have a broken ankle.” Ludwig reminded him.

 

“I can get that fixed in a jiffy though.”

 

“I’ll never understand you.” Ludwig shook his head again.

 

“Why do you say that?” Feliciano asked, everyone always said that about him. He wasn’t some great mystery, was he?”

 

“You’re always so happy, even when talking about the most serious of things. You seem to have no interests outside of training, pasta and flirting and you always talk yourself down even though no one has seen anything that allows them to even believe the stories you tell about your cowardice.”

 

Feliciano laughed lightly, “I tell the stories for a reason. People can’t become better until they learn that it is a good thing to be scared and it is alright. I don’t understand why, but people seem to look up to me and I want to show them that I’m pretty much just like them.” He smiled.

 

“You shouldn’t put yourself down just to make people feel better.” Ludwig chastised.

 

“But I’m not. I just want people to know that it’s okay to be weak. All my life I was told that it’s not okay to be weak or to be scared and I don’t like thinking that way anymore. I’d rather be positive than negative,” He smiled with his eyes.

 

They walked into the Medical Bay and Ludwig put Feliciano down onto one of the beds. The nurse that was working there looked at Feliciano and sighed, “Are you injured again?” She asked with a motherly tone colouring her voice.

 

“You know how I am.” Feliciano said, “How’re the kids?” he asked.

 

“Oh, they’re good. They enjoyed it when you came to visit them a couple months ago. When you showed them some things on the 3d manoeuvring gear they loved it so much.”

 

“I’ll make sure to visit them before I go onto the expedition then.” Feliciano decided.

 

“Now then, what happened?” She asked him.

 

"I may have taken a bit of a tumble and I think I’ve broken my ankle.”

 

Her gaze slid down to the ankle in question, “How you aren’t crying out in pain I don’t know. That looks to be a definite break. I’ll have to get X-rays done of that to see how bad it is. On the bright side this looks like it isn’t as bad of some of the other ankle injuries you’ve gotten and  you should be able to get it healed before you go onto your expedition.” She said optimistically.

 

“He was trying to walk with his broken ankle and struggling out of my grip,” Ludwig said to the nurse. Feliciano shot a look of betrayal towards Ludwig who ignored it.

 

“You are so irresponsible Feliciano! Are you one of the recruits that Feliciano’s training” She asked before adding, “Or maybe a boyfriend?” She smirked subtly.

 

“N-nein.” Ludwig said very quickly.

 

The nurse laughed at Ludwig, “Don’t worry. Little Feliciano here is gay so you can try to grab a piece of that ass.” She said suggestively.

 

Feliciano didn’t say anything. He knew that when she got into one of these moods there was no stopping her.

 

“But isn’t he always flirting with women?”

 

“Well of course, Feli here is Italian. It’s his job to flirt with anything that moves.”

 

She laughed as she saw Feliciano looking slightly red in the face, “Come on let’s get you patched up. I want you to be healed up as soon as possible so I only have to worry about the next injury when you come back.” She said as she left the medical area in order to fetch something.

 

“Is she always like this?” Ludwig asked Feliciano.

 

“She is, I’ve known her for most of my life. One of her hobbies is to try and get new couples together. You should have seen her keep trying with Arthur and Alfred. They were two mutual friends of mine.” He said

 

“So she’s always been like that? How often did she try to set you up?”

 

“Not much there was this one guy she tried really hard with but he-uh… he died.”

 

“I’m sorry about that.” Ludwig apologised.

 

“You don’t have to apologise, It’s in the past now. I think she’s trying to get you to ask me out because you sorta look a bit like him.”

 

“I do?”

 

“Yeah, I sometimes confuse you for him,” Feliciano looked down in embarrassment, “I know you’re not him, but when I’m not really paying attention I see him and it freaks me out sometimes. I’ll get over it. I should be able to, I had a twin brother who was to mirror image of me.”

 

“You have a brother? Where is he?” Ludwig asked, expecting his brother to also be in the military.

 

“I think he’s dead. We were never alike; he used to hate me and was always very vulgar. He used to hate pretty much every one though so it didn’t bother me.” Feliciano said.

 

“I’m sorry. I must keep bringing up old memories for you.” Ludwig apologised again.

 

“Don’t worry. It’s all in the past and I’ve had years to get over it.”

 

The nurse came back with some medical supplies, “Sorry I took so long. I hope you two got in some quality bonding.” She smiled happily as she got to work on Feliciano’s ankle, “Remember to tell me if it hurts.”

 

“You know it doesn’t anymore.” Feliciano stated.

 

“Oh I know, everyone used to know when little Feli got hurt.” The nurse goaded softly.

 

“Says the person who dressed me up in dresses and called me her darling little girl.” Feliciano said back.

 

“You liked wearing those dresses.” Elizabeth said.

 

“That was fine, it was just the fact that everyone thought I was a girl until my voice broke.”

 

“At least you were prettier than the other girls.”

 

“I was the prettiest princess ever.” Feliciano said resolutely.

 

Ludwig choked as he tried to hold back his laughter.

 

“Don’t laugh Ludwig; I can still wear a dress better than most of the female population. I haven’t tied the heels yet…”

 

“That’s a brilliant idea!” The nurse said, “If only we had Feliks still, he would know exactly what to do to make you look amazing.”

 

Ludwig looked at the nurse, “What is with your obsession with dressing Feliciano in women’s clothing?”

 

The nurse shrugged, “None of the children in the orphanage will let me do it to them.”

 

“The orphanage, don’t you have kids of your own?” Ludwig asked.

 

“They are my kids. The kids in the orphanage are the children of all the people who worked in the military and died. I work there in my free time.”

 

“She’s really good with children Ludwig, you should see her.” Feliciano said.

 

“There we are, all done!” The nurse said admiring her handiwork.

 

“Thank you~” Feliciano stood up but was stopped by the nurse.

 

“Nu-uh, you should be using crutches. It will make your ankle take longer to heal.”

 

“But it doesn’t hurt.” Feliciano whined.

 

“Even if it doesn’t hurt I still want you to use at least one crutch in order to take the weight off of your leg, and no fancy acrobatics either.”

 

“Fine,” Feliciano acquiesced.

 

“Bye Feliciano, Bye Ludwig.” She called out as they left the medical area.

 

“Bye Elizebeta.” Feliciano called out as they left.

 

Somehow the name Elizebeta sounded slightly familiar to Ludwig. He must ave met her before, he shrugged. It was quite possible that he’d met her while training or when he had come to the Medical Bay before. At the moment he just shrugged it off and ran to catch up to Feliciano who was surprisingly fast for a man on a crutch.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Ludwig walked to his bed. Today had been another day of training with Feliciano. His squad seemed to be enjoying their time with Feliciano, so was he, but there was something about Feliciano that he just couldn’t get. It was a bit of a déjà vu feeling. The first few times he saw Feliciano he didn’t get it the feeling, but now it was getting stronger and stronger. If must just be him being getting familiar with the Italian. He shrugged it off.

Feliciano had ignored Elizebeta’ s instructions and the next day he was already using his gear in order to move around the training area and offer advice to Ludwig’s fellow recruits. In Ludwig’s opinion Feliciano was being in idiot, but the man didn’t seem to listen to anybody. He could be stubborn when he wanted to be.

Throughout the day he had heard whispers throughout the squad about when he had carried Feliciano to the medical area. The rumour mills were stoked even more as Feliciano kept coming to him to ask for help or to just to talk. It ranged from him and Feliciano dating to some sort of summoning ritual involving those with a love for sausages that he tuned out as they were completely preposterous.

The idea of an obsession didn’t seem too out of the way for Ludwig to agree to. It was as if Feliciano had an infatuation with him, like Feliciano was seeing a ghost that he couldn’t get enough of. He had told Ludwig that the German looked almost exactly someone he once knew. That was probably the reason why, he probably just kept seeing his friend in him.

Anyways it wasn’t harmful to anyone so Ludwig wasn’t going to bother himself with anything. He would much rather have a full night’s rest so he could comprehend Feliciano’s frankly absurd idea of training the recruits. 

Feliciano’s techniques did work though. He could already see an improvement in the group’s teamwork that was definitely not there before. Maybe there was method to Feliciano’s madness. He got into bed and lay there waiting for the rest of the recruits to turn off the lights and to stop talking. It was like this every night, especially since they had started to train with Feliciano. The man had given them something different to comprehend and thus, involved them talking about is for hours.  
________________________________________  
Everyone was surprised when Feliciano walked out into the field with the cast on his ankle off.

“Wasn’t it broken, like completely broken?” Hans asked, not believing that the ankle that had seemed to be completely broken two days ago was completely healed.

“It wasn’t that bad, I’ve already told you, Hans, you didn’t cause me any damage,” he laughed.

The rest of the group arrived and waited for Feliciano to instruct them on what they were going to be doing that day.

“Today we’re going to be doing a little bit of sword work. It may seem like fun, but today’s going to be slightly more boring than usual. I need you all to have muscle memory of these moves and to not have to think while you’re doing them. It may seem like nothing now, but once you up against a Titan you’re going to need every ounce of concentration you have- which more me isn’t that much.” Feliciano said to lighten the mood; he always had trouble keeping things light recently. It must have just been a result of giving one too many lectures throughout the course of his long life.

“So I would pair you up, but I would rather not have any of you got injured.” Sword work was always boring and consisted of him showing various moves that the group would then have to replicate. They were simple enough, but built on the fact that in order to bring a Titan down once would have to cut a chunk of a one metre wider area on the nape of a Titan’s neck. If one was more worried about other things sword skills would often dwindle to a point where the person was near useless.

He showed them a few of the practices and set them to practicing. He was having them do it against the air for now before he brought in some make shift targets for them to work against. The more he had them practice the required moves the more difficult it would be for them to forget in a situation where panic was imminent.

“Do the same things, but without your left leg at all.” He said. He watched as some people managed but others stumbled slightly. He was going to also have to implement their 3D gear in if he was going to improve. It was almost impossible to fight a Titan on the ground.

A while late he told them to stop before calling them to follow him to get their gear.

“Today I won’t be allowing you to use any gas at all.” He said, “It will be difficult if you get slowed down, but that’s what friends are for to help you when you need it most~” He said happily. No one caught the shadow of sadness that flickered across his face as he said that.

Feliciano stood and watched he recruits training. This year’s lot were more promising and he was looking forward to testing them out in the field next month. He’d only been training with them for a few days, but he could already see some improvement in many areas.

The best place to take this group would be the East Wall. The Titans were larger on that side for some reason, which meant that they were harder to kill, but they were fewer. He would rather this group focus on teamwork as they could make a great team if they managed to work together.

The words of one of Allred’s great leaders echoed through his head: United we stand, divided we fall.  
________________________________________

Feliciano watched as Ludwig walked up to him. They had been done with their training for a while now and dinner was about to start.

“Hello Ludwig~” Feliciano called out excitedly.

“Hello Feliciano. I have to talk to you about something.” Ludwig looked slightly nervous.

“What do you want to talk about?’

“I heard some of the recruits saying that you talk about me often and are always calling for me. They used to the word obsessed.” Ludwig said.

Feliciano laughed and blushed slightly, “I promise you I’m not really obsessed with you. I’ll tell you something that’s quite important. I like you Ludwig, I think I really do. The only reason that I haven’t asked you out is because I’m scared that I’m mixing up my feeling for my friend that’s dead and you and I don’t want to start going out with you and then realise that my feeling were fake.”

Ludwig listened for a moment and thought for a good enough response, “Did you assume that I would say yes?” He asked tentatively.

“Of course, I can feel you watching me all the time and I could definitely see it when Elizebeta talked about you and I getting together.” He smirked.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’d rather have you staring at my ass all day than do something and regret it, because I wasn’t fully behind me decision.” Feliciano admitted.

“You know I’m staring at your ass?” 

“You know that weird feeling you get when you’re being watched, I get it, but it’s on my butt.” He giggled.

Ludwig laughed as well.

“You should laugh more, being happy really suits you.” Feliciano complimented.

“Thank you.” Ludwig said.  
________________________________________  
Feliciano smiled as he watched the recruits get ready for bed. They had been training together for just over a month and he was going to take them on their first expedition outside the wall. It was expected to last a couple of months and Feliciano would spend that time trying to show them as much as he could about killing Titans and giving them necessary experience.

This was probably the most crucial part of their training. It was also the most dangerous, because at this point it wasn’t Feliciano putting his life in danger for a few stunts, but rather the entire group putting their life into danger as they learned how to properly kill Titans. 

A lot of the people who reached this point would get absolutely terrified once they saw a Titan and they would freeze up, but Feliciano was glad he was going to be around in order to help this group to learn to fend for themselves.

He sighed inwardly as his mind was brought back to Ludwig. He didn’t know what to think. He was nearly completely sure that it was definitely his Ludwig. But he liked Ludwig, both of them. It was as if they were two people. Even though Ludwig still acted the same as he used to, there will still minute differences.

The Ludwig he knew now wasn’t as much as a neat freak as he used to be. It must have been bred from living with Gilbert who was a bit of a messy person when he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. 

Feliciano pulled his mind away from Ludwig. He was going to try and get as much sleep as he could tonight because for the next few months he would be surviving on pretty much nothing except for a few naps. 

Sleep was something that seemed to dodge Feliciano these days. Before the Titans attacked he would be able to sleep whenever and once had managed to sleep for longer than twenty-four hours. To be fair that was back when he had just been enlisted into his first war and had gotten back from his first time in the field.

Nowadays he would be able to manage for nearly three days without feeling any of the effects of the lack of sleep. When he did try to sleep he couldn’t manage more than four hours at a time. He always got woken up by nightmares. 

They were of many things. They ranged from terrifying things like watching people he once loved get eaten alive to almost stupid things. Thinking he left the stove on or that he got the wrong kind of pasta, things that were remnants of his lost life that he was never going to get back.

He continued to mull over various things and had managed to make a plan for when the recruits woke up. They were going to be woken up at four o’ clock in order to get themselves ready for the day. He then managed to get an idea of where he was going to lead them on their trek using the images of the land he had in his mind from previous visits outside of the wall.

Sometimes he really missed GPS’s. With that he would be able to plan everything so well that even his old Ludwig would have to commend him. But that was in the past and he was going to have to make do with what he had.

Before he knew it he had fallen into a fitful sleep only to be woken a few an hour or two later when his body naturally woke himself up. It was about three o’ clock. Tonight was a good night. He hadn’t had any nightmares of note and maybe that was a good omen for the trip ahead of him and the recruits.


	5. Chapter 5

Feliciano knew that things were going to go to shit at some point after he’d left the wall. He was with the recruits and it had been about a month since they had left. Everything had been good and they were starting to get the hang of killing Titans and were no longer terrified of them, usually.  


But of course fate had to go and mess things up. Right now he was struggling to think of a good way to explain a couple of important things he had previously omitted from the recruits at the moment.

 

He ignored the Titan that was beginning to smoke as it held a large metal object that was behind him as he began to try and brush as much of the blood as he could off of his skin.

 

He really didn’t know how to explain this. He now had seven people looking absolutely terrified of him and standing completely still as if they had been converted into statues.

 

Feliciano sighed. This mess had only started about five or so minutes ago.

“What’s that noise?” Hannah asked as she cocked her head to the side. The rest of the recruits stopped their riding on horseback and began to listen.

 

“I don’t know,” Dmitri said, his Russian accent tinting his English strongly despite the fact that he could not speak it. He must have picked it up from his parents who had picked it up from their parents or something similar.

 

“It’s just an aeroplane,” Feliciano said without thinking he began to ride off until he realised what he had just said.

 

“An aeroplane?” He asked again as he turned around and began to scour the sky in order to find the source of the noise. Then he spotted it. A small plane that was heading towards the direction they had travelled from the wall. It was mostly white and decorated with a red spot on the underbelly of it; the Japanese flag. On the other side he could see the detailing of anime characters on it.

 

There was only one person that plane could belong to, Kiku. He could _sense_ it. Feliciano began to holler loudly as he waved his arm wildly and called out to Kiku.

 

The plane didn’t respond.  Despite his ability to shout extremely loudly that was shared with a large amount of the loud-mouthed Italian population, he still wasn’t loud enough for a plane to hear. He began to panic. Without thinking he jumped off of his horse and began to run for the plane. Feliciano’s didn’t really notice anything other than and intense heat forming around him as his height increased and he managed to jump high enough to grab the low flying plane. He landed of the ground close to where the recruits were and he stopped.

 

 

 

That was pretty much what had happened, or at least as much as he could remember it anyways.

 

“A-are you a Titan.” He heard Preston ask.

 

That was when he fully comprehended what he had done.

 

Feliciano and the other people who were immortal like him had a special ability. At least most of them did. That was the simple ability to turn into a Titan at will. Each person that was able to do that and had a different form that was unique to them.

 

They were definitely considered abnormals- Titans that were different from the normal descriptions. His form was interesting. It retained a lot of his likeness and hand a large toothy grin that spread literally from ear to ear. Its limbs were elongated and his hand could almost touch his knees when he was standing up.

 

He was a medium sized Titan and was extremely agile for his size. Unlike nearly every other shifter he had met he was able to jump. Not just normal jumping, but he was able to jump high enough to catch a low flying plane with ease, or even make it over the walls that protected them.

 

Before he could answer the plane’s engine cut off and the door opened and out came two men.

 

“Feliciano dude, that was awesome! I never knew that you were a shifter like Ludwig and Tino and I.” Feliciano heard Alfred say.

 

“Hello Feliciano-chan.” He heard Kiku call out. He smiled as he heard Kiku use an old nickname of his.

 

“Hello! If I were you I’d get off the plane. It’s about to drop.” Feliciano warned as he saw his Titan form disintegrating before his eyes. Titans were odd, they had a much higher body temperature than humans and once they were killed they disintegrated into a form of smoke. It was all very weird and Feliciano never did get to understand it.

 

Alfred called out, “Don’t worry I got it.” He jumped off of the plane and landed onto the floor moments before the plane began to fall. He managed to catch it with his bare hands before he lowered it onto the ground.

 

Alfred didn’t have an actual Titan form that manifested but he had control over a few of their abilities. He was strong, stronger than most Titans actually and could heal himself in a few moments. Like Feliciano, he didn’t feel any pain.

 

“Is that Ludwig?” Kiku asked as he laid eyes on Ludwig.

 

Feliciano let his eyes drop to his feet, “I don’t know. I think so, but he doesn’t remember anything.”

 

Kiku nodded.

 

Marty was one of the firs of the recruits to speak, “What is going on here?” He asked.

 

“Do they not know about your,” Alfred lowered his voice into a loud whisper, “Shifting abilities?” He asked.

 

Feliciano slowly shook his head.

 

“Well then it’s time to teach them about some things! So hundreds upon hundreds of years ago there were people, but they were different. They didn’t die. They eventually found each other and formed a bit of a club. Each of us seemed to come from a different country so we started to call each other by our country names for the hell of it. I’m America and Feliciano here is Italy and—“

 

He was given a sharp jab by Kiku, “I’ll explain from here as you seem to be unable to explain the simplest of things without turning it into an entire book. After a while we discovered that some of us had the ability to shift into Titans. We didn’t know what they were back then as Titans didn’t exist, but one day Titans began to attack. Many of us died and even more of us were separated.”

 

“So are you the good guys or the bad guys?” Christine asked.

 

“Us? The bad guys? A hero is never the bad guy. We hate Titans just as much as you do and are doing our best in order to rid the world of them.”

 

“Ve~ if I were the bad guy I wouldn’t have spent years training people to fight against the Titans. The Titans are actually hurting us. We’re tied to the country we come from so when Italy fell I could feel the pain of the people.” Feliciano said solemnly.

 

“But then, why aren’t you in Italy or something and here, in Germany?” Marty asked.

 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I was visiting Artie with Mattie at the time.” Alfred explained.

 

Feliciano nodded,” I was visiting that German friend I keep telling you guys about.”

 

Ludwig stepped forward, “You mean the man who looks like me? If you’re apparently immortal then isn’t there a chance that I could be him, but without memories, especially because I I’m so similar?” Ludwig asked as he brought up a theory.

 

Kiku looked Ludwig up and down, “You are him. There are no two doubts about it.”

 

“I’ve always known it’s you… I just didn’t want to mix you up; because you’re two different people now and if you don’t ever get your memories back it’s no use reminding you that you’re not who you used to be.” Feliciano said quietly.

 

“Anyways,” Alfred said as he started to change the subject, “Where have you been for the last thousand or so years? I don’t know about you but I’ve made some new friends, they’re like us.”

 

“He’s talking about Gilbert and Norway.” Kiku explained

 

“You saw Gilbert? How is he? He’s still alive and healthy.” Feliciano asked slightly panicked.

 

“Don’t worry Feliciano. Gilbert is perfectly alright.” Kiku said.

 

Feliciano looked visibly relieved. “Gilbert’s your older brother, Ludwig. He’s very similar to you in looks except he’s an albino. I don’t think he has any abilities.” Feliciano quickly explained.

 

“What have you been doing Feliciano?” Kiku asked curious.

 

“Well, I was in Germany at the time and sorta lost Ludwig in the beginning chaos and then later on I found Roderich and Elizebeta. He’s become a commander and she works in the hospital. I’ve been in the Survey corps. This is the special elite that go outside the wall, and these are my recruits this year.”  He gestured towards the group of people.”

 

“That’s good.” Kiku said.

 

“Do any of you have some food or m, I’m starved.” Alfred said as he looked around with his version of puppy dog eyes.

 

“Alfred we ate less than two hours ago.”

 

“So? I’m hungry.”

 

Kiku sighed and gave some of his rations to Alfred.

 

“Where were you planning to go with the plane?” Feliciano asked as he looked at the plane again.

 

“Well we were planning to scout out Germany before heading off to England. I was there a short while ago and Arthur, Francis and my brother were all there.” His brother’s name escaped Alfred for a moment.

 

Kiku brought his attention to the recruits. “Do you think we should tell them to move away? We are discussing a sensitive topic and if the information is spread it may cause more harm than good.”

 

“My recruits have heard a bit, but I think it would be better to have a more private conversation. Does Ludwig have to go? He is one of us, even if he doesn’t remember it.”

 

“I think that will be fine.” Kiku said. The recruits moved out of earshot while some tried to listen subtly.

 

“How about we speak in a different language? That’ll confuse them for sure.” Alfred Suggested.

 

“ _That seems like a good idea,_ ” Kiku said in Japanese. Due to the fact that they had been living so long many of their kind had learnt the various languages of the world and were fluent in enough languages to get them quite far, at least before the Titans attacked anyways. Still, it was always useful because they could manage to have conversations in multiple languages in order to prevent some eavesdropping.

 

“ _But what about Ludwig?_ ” Feliciano asked in Italian. He was worried about Ludwig being unable to understand their conversation.

 

“ _He can’t really remember anything so…”_ Alfred trailed off. His speech was in French for the moment.

 

“ _I can understand you.”_ Ludwig told the group in Japanese.

 

“ _I never knew you could speak more than English and German!”_ Feliciano exclaimed. This time he spoke in Hungarian.

 

“ _I don’t understand it myself I guess it a… a—”_ He sought for the Hungarian word, but switched to Japanese as the equivalent of the word came to mind, “ _Result of my memory loss. I seem to have some knowledge, however none of the memories.”_

_“How long have you been alive for?”_ Japan asked. He too said his sentence in Japanese.

 

“ _I don’t know. I seem to have no recollection of anything before the last five or so years.”_

_“This supports your amnesia theory guys. The question is: How do we un-amnesia Ludwig?”_ Alfred asked. He joined Ludwig and Kiku in Japanese.

Feliciano thought for a moment before agreeing with the silent decision to continue in Japanese as Ludwig seemed to be the most fluent in it so far. “ _Is there a way we could jump start his memories?”_

_“There should be,”_ Kiku said, “ _We’ll just have to try what we can.”_

_“Anything that you can show Ludwig that may be sentimental to him, like ticket stubs from you first date or something?”_ Alfred asked.

 

“ _Ludwig and I weren’t together!”_ Feliciano defended harshly.

 

“ _You said ‘weren’t’ does that mean you are now, Feli-chan.”_ Kiku asked. A knowing smirk caused his lips to lift slightly.

 

“ _You’re blushing! You do know that Ludwig may not get his memories back, right_?”

 

Feliciano nodded slightly in answer to Alfred’s question as he tried futilely to hide his face.

 

“ _Feliciano is fully aware of this fact. He was very apprehensive to admit that he liked me and explained how he didn’t want it to be a continuation of the feeling he held for his friend and would rather be sure that his feelings were real instead.”_

_“You liked Ludwig?”_ Kiku asked.

 

Feliciano nodded again, “ _I did, but I didn’t want to act on it in case Ludwig never liked me back. I was a bit of an air head then and kinda didn’t notice that Ludwig did actually like me. I can see it clearly now that I look back.”_

_“As long as you both know what you’re getting into,”_ Kiku said.

 

“ _I can’t believe you two liked each other. Everyone used to always assume you were a couple.”_ Alfred nearly squealed in excitement, “ _Matthew owes me twenty bucks—oh wait...”_ He stopped as he realised that money at this point in time was obsolete. He shrugged it off. “ _I’ll just get him to give me twenty bucks’ worth of rations when I get to see him.”_

_“What are we going to do now?”_ Ludwig asked as he brought the topic back to the subject matter they had been previously trying to discuss. It was reminiscent of the meetings everyone used to hold.

 

“ _We can go to your settlement and refuel and relax for a short bit before heading off to England to find the rest of the gang.”_ Alfred said.

 

“ _That seems like a good idea,”_ Kiku gave one of his rare smiles as he looked at Ludwig and Feliciano, “ _I’m glad to see you two again. Even if you don’t have your memories Ludwig it is still nice to see you and know that you’re alive.”_

_“You too Kiku! I’ve missed you so much”_ Feliciano said excitedly as he gave Kiku a tight hug. Ludwig nodded in acknowledgement.

 

“ _Let’s go home then!”_ Alfred said as he somehow managed to easily lift the plane and began to walk with it.

 

“Which way is home?” Alfred asked in English.

 

“That way Alfred,” Feliciano pointed to the direction the sun was travelling in. He was pretty sure that the higher ups wouldn’t mind it if he cut the expedition a little bit short. If they did he was sure that Roderich and Elizebeta could work something out.

 

 

Alfred continued to carry the plane. He was glad for his abnormal amount of stamina that rivalled even a Titan’s. This allowed him to carry the plane comfortably. It was idiotic to just leave it in the middle of a wasteland for someone else to take advantage of.

 

He laughed for a moment before his mood turned more solemn. He was really glad that Feliciano, Ludwig and Kiku had managed to find a bit of a happy ending with each other. It had placated his worry slightly. However, the gnawing at his heart was not going away. There was something wrong and he could tell. He just hoped that it didn’t involve Arthur, Francis or Mattie.

 

After a deep breath in and out he continued to walk. It was no use being paranoid. He was just going to hope for the best. They were definitely alive. If he could survive nearly five hundred years without them, they could easily survive the same period of time with each other. None of them were Titan shifters, but they were all extremely skilled in their chosen specialities.

 

He sighed once more and continued to walk towards the sunset; his plan was to just take things one day at a time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nordics were brought up, but unfortunately they're not going to be a major part of the story. Also apologies for Alfred's character, I should be able to justify it a bit more in the next chapter. (Yes, his overwhelming shallowness is for a reason)


	6. Chapter 6

Feliciano knocked on Commander Edelstein’s door. “Roderich, can I come in?” He asked. The usage of Roderich’s first name implied that the matter Feliciano wanted to discuss was personal. Usually Feliciano would refer to Roderich as ‘Commander’ despite the fact that he had pretty much grown up with the Austrian.

 

“Come in Feliciano.” Roderich said as he put some papers aside and motioned to a chair. While he had never been good with physical fighting, tactics and strategies came easily to Roderich. With the added bonus, that he personally knew a Titan-shifter it was a lot easier for him to help the Survey Corps and other military branches with their plans.

 

Feliciano sat down in the slightly uncomfortable chair and began to fiddle with his fingers. “Do you mind if I go to England? We may have found Alfred and Kiku. Alfred told us about how Francis and Arthur and his brother are there.”

 

After a moment of thought Roderich replied, “You’re not taking any of the recruits are you?” 

 

“I’m only taking Ludwig.”

 

“Are you sure it’s your Ludwig? I have lived a long time and I’ve seen millions of people. The possibility of it just being a coincidence that Ludwig looks the same and shares a name with Germany is very slim, but still possible.”

 

“I’m sure it’s Ludwig and I’ve come to terms with the fact that he might not get his memories back.” Feliciano said resolutely.

 

“It’s fine as long as you are completely sure about it.” Roderich still looked out for Feliciano. Despite the fact that they were close in age, he still thought of Feliciano as a son even after all these years.  This was mainly because Feliciano had literally grown up under the care of a teenaged Roderich.

 

Feliciano smiled. “Are we able to go out the walls to England?” He asked again.

 

A small nod from Roderich confirmed. “Take extra gear and supplies. You do not know how long you’re going to be out there. Make sure that you teach Alfred and Kiku how to use 3D manoeuvring gear. When are you planning to leave?” Roderich fired off questions, long used to this style of speech after years of dealing with Feliciano and being in the military.

 

“Quite soon, but I want to go over some things with Kiku, especially about the plane he was flying.”

 

Stories had flown around the city about Kiku’s plane. “Ah yes. I’m still quite surprised that he’d managed to build a working plane in this day and age.” Roderich remarked absently before fixing his glasses.

 

“It’s been quite some time since the Titans attacked. I’ll be going now, sir. Is there anything you need?” Feliciano offered.

 

“Nothing comes to mind. Good luck Feliciano, and please don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to feel the wrath of Elizebeta again.”

 

Feliciano chuckled top himself as he left Roderich’s office. Roderich and Elizebeta had been married at one point but had eventually broken up once they realised things were not going to work. They had a bit of an on and off relationship but it was more of a result-of-conditions style relationship than one with romantic feeling behind it. Of course, Feliciano was sure they loved each other. It was just their personalities were not suited for a committed relationship.

Feliciano bounded up to Alfred and Kiku, “Roderich has approved our plans.” He smiled.

 

“That’s awesome dude!” Alfred said excitedly. He was looking forward to seeing his makeshift family soon.

 

“When will we be leaving?” Kiku asked.

 

Feliciano looked slightly embarrassed, “I didn’t actually cover that with Roderich, but we should be able to go when we want to. He wants me to teach you how to use he 3D manoeuvring gear though.”

 

“That seems fair.” Kiku said.

 

“It’s still morning. Do you think we should get started? I have nothing else to do for the next few days so whenever you two are free I can work with you.” Feliciano offered

 

“I’ve always wanted to try grappling hooks, but these seem so much cooler.” Alfred remarked as he started to put the gear on. Kiku already had his gear on as Feliciano had helped him first while explaining the basics of the gear, how to use it, and some tis he had learnt throughout his years of using it.

 

“It’s really fun, Alfred. It feels like you flying in the sky and you can do so much with it.” He smiled broadly at Alfred’s enthusiasm.

 

Kiki himself was feeling excited. “It’s like something from an anime.”

 

“It totally does. I miss anime, and movies, and cell phones, and toilets. Good indoor plumbing was the best. I still can’t believe you still have outhouses here. At least you have sewers so it isn’t too bad, but why outside? Couldn’t it have been in the house?”

 

“The villages are designed that way to make things cheaper,” Feliciano explained, “I’ve got indoor-plumbing in my house.”

 

Alfred looked around wildly, “Where do you live? It has been more than a thousand years since my ass has touched a toilet seat. Do you even know how I feel about being able to say that and not even be lying?” He joked.

 

“I live on the outer borders. It’s a two day journey from here.” Feliciano said. Alfred looked dejected at that statement.

 

“Why don’t we begin training?” Kiku offered.

 

“That sounds good.” Feliciano said as he began to lead them to where they would be practicing. He could hear the awkward footsteps of both Alfred and Kiku as they adjusted to the bulk of the 3D manoeuvring gear. He did not have an issue with it and he would often feel too light when he was not wearing it.

 

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to jump right in. I would rather let you two get used to everything first. I’m sorry if I’m not too good at teaching this.” Feliciano apologised.

 

  
“Aren’t you a teacher or something?” Alfred asked.

 

“I train the survey Corps recruits once a year. They’re mostly trained and I’ve had more than a few hundred years to fine tune what I do.”

 

“Survey Corps are the ones that go out the walls, right?” Alfred asked.

 

Kiku answered for Feliciano, “Yes, we would be going through their training but we want to leave earlier so we’re being personally taught by Feliciano. From what I heard he’s very good at what the does.”

 

Feliciano blushed under Kiku’s praise. “I’m going to show you how to handle the hooks. It’s easy, but you need to get good at it so you don’t have to focus too much on them. In addition, you need to learn their reach and what angle they come out so you can be more comfortable with this.

 

“You only have to be proficient at this before we leave. Ludwig and I know what we’re doing but I want you to be able to fend for yourselves as well. Just in case. I know you’re both skilled fighters but new skills don’t hurt anyone.”

Feliciano began to laugh as he saw Alfred lose his balance and start to hang upside down. To be truthful it had taken him a long time to get the hang of the gear. He had gone over some exercises with Alfred and Kiku, which involved them learning how to use the hooks and how to balance. He was now showing them how to get the hang of actually moving.

 

Of course, it took a while to master.

 

“Here Alfred,” Feliciano said as he grabbed Alfred’s hand and took him to the nearest tree. Kiku was faring much better. He seemed to be doing okay with the gear and was moving at a slow pace as he adjusted to the new feelings and controls of it.

 

“You’re trying to do too much too soon.” Feliciano scolded, “You should get the hang of one thing before you go onto the next.” Usually training was more spaced for people and it was easier to focus on one skill for a period, but since they were going to be setting out so soon they would have to learn quicker.

 

“I know, but I hate being bad at something.”

 

“I can understand Alfred.  It took me a long time just to get the hang of the gear, at least a few months. You’re doing way better than I did.”

 

Alfred beamed as he took off again at a much slower speed than before. He was good for his skill level, they both were and they were learning quickly. Hopefully they should be able to leave for England before the end of the month which wasn’t’ too far away. He sighed. If Arthur, Francis, and Matthew were alive, it would be great. Not only would it mean that three others like them were alive, but it would mean that Alfred had found his family and that two families were now reunited. If only Ludwig could get his memories back.

The two weeks had gone extremely quickly. Feliciano and Ludwig had worked hard in order to teach Kiku and Alfred how to work their gear and as a result, they were both adequate at using it.

 

“Do you have water?” Ludwig asked.

 

‘”I do,” Feliciano, groaned, “I’ve got everything so please don’t ask me. I’ve even made a list and double checked, twice.” He held up a list to Ludwig that had definitely seen better days despite that he had wrote it the night before.

 

Ludwig took the list and examined it, “It seems as if everything id in order.” He said as he eyed all of the supplies the group were going to be bringing. They had copious amounts of water, and not too much food as they were going to be able to scrounge of the indigenous flora and fauna. He sighed as they packed everything onto the horses. Sometimes Feliciano and Alfred were too optimistic for things in life.

 

“Come on Kiku We can’t afford to be late.” Feliciano called put to the Japanese man as they finished packing their bags.

 

“I’m, coming. I just wanted to make sure that they plane was still alright.” He had hated it how the people had looked at his plane as if it were some shiny new toy for a rich kid to take apart. He had managed to dissuade them from doing that. However, he was not too sure if they were going to abstain while he was gone.

 

It was unfortunate that they were not going to be able to use the plane for when they went to England. The small plane was only a two seater and the group already had four individuals. Adding the others, if they found them, that would turn the group into seven, which the plane would hardly be able to lift into the air, never mind carry comfortably.

 

“I’m so stoked man, just imagine seeing Arthur’s face as I swop in and save him like he’s a damsel in distress.” America envisioned.

 

Feliciano giggled, “I don’t think Arthur would like that very much.” After being able to watch Alfred for a while, Feliciano had concluded that his happy-go-lucky attitude was a complete farce. It probably was not before the Titans had attacked, but now it definitely was. All of them had their issues. Feliciano was much calmer than he used to and not as enthusiastic, Kiku was more silent, Alfred had put on an act in order to seem like he was unaffected by any of the things he had seen.

 

Feliciano knew he was. They had all seen monstrous things in the large period of time that they had been alive, even before the Titans had attacked. Some people had it worse than others did. Roderich had barely seen or felt any heartbreak. He was still with Elizebeta and was not the forefront in the fighting. Before the Titans had attacked, he had also been a part of a very small social circle. He was not too sure what Ludwig had seen, but it must have been bad if he had completely forgotten about it.

 

“Are we ready to go?” He heard Ludwig ask.

Murmurs of affirmation came from the small group and with that they began the two day journey on horseback to Feliciano’s house so that they could grab some other stuff before setting out into the vast wilderness that had claimed to many lives of people that they had once knew and people that they didn’t know.

 

“Your house looks so cool,” Alfred remarked as hey led their horses up the garden path.

 

“Thanks. I actually managed to design it and because there wasn’t anyone that would build it I had to do it myself.” Feliciano said as he led them to the stables.

 

“You built this entire house by yourself?” Kiku asked.

 

“Well at that point they’d already created a set structure for all the buildings and I didn’t want that so I had no other choice. I couldn’t even get help because the other people were scared of prosecution for disobeying the rules. It was a time of fear then. Fear of both the Titans and the government.”

 

“So you didn’t get in trouble?” Alfred asked as he started to unload his luggage off the horse.

 

“I already knew people that just allowed me to slip through the laws unnoticed. Back then, I was a major name in killing Tians and all of that. I think there still might be a statue or two of me.”

 

“You’ve got statues of yourself? That’s so cool! I wish I had one of myself.”

 

“It’s not that cool Alfred. Back then, I was fighting for my life. I am sure you were also like that.”

 

Alfred remembered what it was like with his own family and what they had been doing at that point. Back then, they had nearly become Titan food on a daily basis. He smiled thinking of how close they used to be then. Now they were not. He sighed quietly before speaking. “Come on let’s tour the rest of your house.” He quickly grabbed the last of his bags before going towards the house at a near run.

 

“Come on Kiku and Ludwig, we should go. Arthur used to lecture everyone a lot about not leaving Alfred unsupervised and personally, I can agree with him.” Feliciano laughed as they walked to the house.

 

“Dude, your house is locked.” Alfred half-yelled.

 

“Alfred you shouldn’t yell. It’s rude and disrespectful.” Ludwig scolded. He watched almost fascinated, as Alfred seemed to be apologetic for a few seconds before going back into his previous state. This time he was a bit more subdued.

 

Feliciano took the key and opened the door, “This is my house. Sorry if it’s a mess. I left it in a bit of a rush when they called me to train the recruits. Also, I’ve kind of adopted a few stray cats. You’ll see them at dinnertime. They always flock to my house once they see the lights on.” He laughed as he closed the door behind them.

 

“I, uh, I don’t really have three guest rooms. I’ve got a guest room and a studio—which I can turn into a makeshift bedroom—one of us will have to share.” Feliciano said.

 

“I don’t mind shar—”  Alfred began, but Ludwig cut him off.

 

“I’ll sleep with Feliciano. We’ve slept together before.”

 

Alfred started to snicker at Ludwig’s wording and Kiku gave a knowing smile to Feliciano. Feliciano shook his head as his cheeks coloured. He was with Ludwig, but they had not done anything of those sorts, yet. They had just been too busy with the expedition and the training even think about that. They did spend time together. Feliciano was always near Ludwig and often they would be in close proximity during the evenings. Feliciano seemed to be a fan of sitting between Ludwig’s legs as he read. He’ d tried to read the book with Ludwig, but the man read much more quickly than him and it usually ended up with Feliciano falling asleep—promptly  followed by Ludwig also falling asleep.

 

During the expedition, they would often share their sleeping area. It was for warmth and companionship. The rest of the recruits were okay with it, but would often check on them in the middle of the night. Feliciano knew that they were trying to catch them in the act of doing something a bit risqué. Rumours had circulated about them. About Feliciano having no idea what sex even was. He actually did and he could consider himself as more experienced than most of the population. He just did not bring sex up when bringing it up was not necessary. He also thought that sexual innuendos were usually gaudy and not very well thought out at times.

 

The rumours about Ludwig were hilarious. Last Feliciano had checked the man was not into anything weird in reality. They had spread rumours about him being into BSDM and other things that he had decided would have been better lost in time. They were false rumours, at least Feliciano thought so.

 

Ludwig realised why Alfred was snickering. “Get your head out of the gutter. It seems like everyone these days only thinks about sex.” He sighed before continuing at a much lower volume as he spoke to Feliciano, “Do you need any help with setting up for Alfred and Kiku Feli?”

 

“I’ll be fine. I just need to get some spare sheets out for them and give the house a quick once over with a feather duster.” Feliciano said as he went to a small cupboard in the kitchen that held the cleaning supplies and he took out a few different things.

 

Ludwig came up to him, “I’ll clean. You can go and get the sheets done.”

 

“We’re helping too! Come on Kiku we can’t just stand here while they slave over us.” Alfred said as he took a broom. “Here’s the plan: Feli can handle the beds. After that, he can start dinner. I hope you don’t mind, but your pasta is the best—“

 

“I don’t mind.” Chirped Feliciano.

 

“Why do we need a plan? We’re just cleaning.” Kiku asked.

 

“Every successful mission requires a plan.” Alfred explained. Kiku and Ludwig shared a look that went unnoticed by Alfred who continued, “I’ll give the task of upstairs to Ludwig. Kiku and I can handle downstairs.”

 

Ludwig thought for a moment, “If you’re making plans for cleaning then it should be—“

 

Feliciano interrupted him. “Come on, let’s get the bedrooms ready. We can always help Alfred and Kiku if we finish before then. Or you could help me with dinner.” He smiled before turning away and bounding up the stairs.

 

“Where should we begin, Alfred?”

 

Alfred surveyed the area, “We can grab a broom and a feather duster and we can just start in the lounge. Everything’s pretty clean. It’s just a bit dusty.”

 

Alfred grabbed the feather duster and a cloth and Kiku the broom. Alfred began by dusting the areas and wiping down what he could while Kiku swept. They had nearly finished when Feliciano and Ludwig came down and went to the kitchen to start dinner.

 

“It better be spaghetti!” Alfred yelled to the kitchen before Feliciano could start with anything.

 

“We’ll have to go to the market for meat then,” Feliciano yelled back equally as loudly, “It’s still early so we can get good quality.”

 

“You two go down to the market then while Kiku and I finish up here.”

 

Alfred was about to ask if Feliciano had heard him properly when he saw him enter the lounge as he put a thin coat on. At this point harsh winter had already started to melt into spring, but it would still be at least a month before the cold bite of winter would be subdued.

 

“Come on Ludwig!” Feliciano called impatiently. “Are you sure you’ll be okay here?” He directed towards Alfred and Kiku.

 

“I’m sure I can keep Alfred in check.” Kiku said and Feliciano laughed while Alfred looked a bit put out.

 

“Have you got money Feliciano?” Ludwig asked. Feliciano checked his pockets but heard no telltale jingle of coins. He was about to bolt for his bag when Ludwig stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, “I’ve got money with me so don’t worry.”

 

“I don’t mind paying. You are the guest, it isn’t right to make the guest pay…”

 

“I don’t mind and if you really want to you can pay me back later.” Ludwig said with no intention of letting Feliciano pay him back.

 

“Alright,” Feliciano knew that getting Ludwig to accept the money was going to be a difficult task.  Therefore, he decided that it would be rather futile.  He opened the door and stood outside it while he waited for Ludwig.  Once Ludwig was out of the door he closed it behind them.  He began to walk hand in hand with Ludwig as he whistled and merry tune that that was unknown to anybody else except for himself and possibly others who had been around since before the Titans had attacked.

 

That left Alfred and Kiku all alone in Feliciano’s house. “So I guess that means it’s just you and me Kiks,” Alfred said with a joking smirk.

 

“Alfred, please don’t call me that.” Kiku asked as he continued to clean.

 

“Sorry,” He said half-heartedly, “I promise I won’t make a mess when mom and dad are away—who would the mom be in their relationship?”

 

“Ludwig,” Kiku answered with barely a moment’s hesitation.

 

“I can see that, definitely. That would make Feli the dad though…”

 

“The kind that is always trying to get the kids to do something weird?” He suggested.

 

“We are travelling to England on horseback.”

 

“That was your idea.”

 

“What if we’re going by age? Between Ludwig and Feliciano isn’t Ludwig the oldest?”

 

A monosyllabic laugh came from Kiku, “Ludwig would be mine and Feliciano’s late little lamb. He’s at least two thousand years younger than Feliciano.”

 

“I still don’t see Ludwig as a lamb.”

 

“We should finish cleaning before they get back.” Kiku said in order to pull Alfred’s attention to what he was doing, or rather what he was not doing.

 

“I still don’t see Ludwig as a lamb,” Alfred repeated as he began to sweep after taking the broom from Kiku, as he had grown tired of his previous task.

 

“It’s a saying England said one of his colonies had. Late lamb, in their language it refers to a child that was born to older parents.”

 

“Which colony said that?”

 

“South Africa.”

 

They continued to clean in an almost companionable silence. Only Alfred hated silence. He clamoured for something to say to spark conversation. He could only think of one thing that made him cringe whenever he thought back to that exact moment.

 

“So how’s your love life been recently?”

 

Kiku could sense that the American was trying to start up a conversation in order to ease the tension that Kiku did not feel. He knew Alfred could. “I haven’t been in a relationship for a while, and you?”

 

“Quite recently in fact,” Alfred said with an air of pompous pride. A look from Kiku urged him to continue. “She was a real looker. Legs almost as long as I am tall and she had a huge smile that could change your day. Of course I couldn’t go further than third base and she did have a bit of an odd habit of trying to eat me.” He trailed off and was delighted when Kiku laughed slightly.

 

“Is that all I get? I’ve been holding on to that one for a while now.”

 

“It’s hilarious Alfred. I just—“

 

“It’s alright, I can understand.” He smiled reassuringly and folded his arms around the Japanese man. It took a few moments before Kiku relaxed into the hug, but it felt nice when he did. The both held each other tightly for a few moments before relaxing their grip just slightly.

 

“What if I told you I liked you?” Alfred asked suddenly.

 

It took Kiku a few moments to think of a reply. “I think I would like it,” He said with an uncertain tone.

 

Alfred kissed Kiku on the lips. It was short and it was not one to write home about, but it conveyed the feelings for which Alfred could not find the words.

“A-Alfred! You don’t kiss someone without warning.” Kiku said, but he did not loosen his grip on Alfred.

 

“I’m sorry I’m just kind of bad at figuring out how to start things.”

 

“It’s alright.” A blush glazed Kiku’s cheeks.

 

“Like as in it’s alright or _it’s alright_?”

 

“As in _it’s alright_.”

 

“Really? I knew you liked me as well. You don’t blush madly for no reason.”

 

“I don’t blush. I—“

 

“You blush, and it’s adorable.”

 

Alfred kissed Kiku again with more confidence this time. “I’m still glad you didn’t reject me.”

 

Kiku looked at Alfred sternly, “I never said we were together. I just said alight.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Kiku laughed, this time a lot more freely than before. He then said, “Don’t worry, I meant yes. I just want to take it slow.”

 

“You’re still bothered by what happened?”

 

Kiku nodded minutely. “But it’s in the past. He’s not going to come back to life. Dwelling on the past won’t change the present, or the future.”

 

Alfred hugged Kiku tightly and kissed his forehead. “Does that mean we’ll share a bed?” He asked suddenly.

 

“Let’s finish the cleaning before Ludwig and Feliciano come back.”

 

“Are we going to tell them?” Alfred asked another question.

 

“We’ll see.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was long (4 000 words). Next chapter is probably going to be the end. I might split it into two because exams are a-looming. Thanks for reading and I beg of thee to give feedback. Have an awesome day!


End file.
